Reunion with First Love

I lost my dad the same month I turned 15 years old. Dad had a brief illness of about seven days from which he never recovered. Just before he fell ill he was teaching me how to ride a scooter, I would perpetually get confused between the clutch and gear combinations and dad would lose his patience. He was a natural with vehicles and my less than perfect handling irked him.

I grew up eventually learning to ride an automatic scooty (my friend’s) and much later I bought my first car.  Initially I had a driver however a few months later I guess my latent genes kicked in and I dismissed the driver and started driving on my own. I had observed him for the few months that he was there and that coupled with practice helped me perfect my driving skills.

Having a car literally gave me wings, no longer did I feel insecure, I could go anywhere at anytime, I need not be dependent on anyone. I and my car became an inseparable pair. I applied for my learner’s license and one Sunday while practicing my highway driving skills landed up in Nainital. Once at the wheels I just couldn’t stop.

A job change meant a city change from Delhi to Bombay and I rubbed my hands in glee. A cross country was just the thrill I wanted. My road trip with a car filled with clothes, books and pots & pans (which rattled once I touched 100km/hr) was an amazing one through Udaipur, Gujarat, Daman and eventually Mumbai. The roads were good and the drive was smooth.Perhaps a little too smooth I decided when it was time a year later to return to Delhi so I chose a different route. Travelling through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, parts of UP and Haryana in the middle of monsoons helped me witness India that was beautiful, dangerous, courteous, on the brink and above all amazing.

You can read about some of it here and here.

My love affair with long drives especially across states and to the mountains has lived on through dashes as and when I could manage to convince the partner. However in the past four years due to various reasons my road trips didn’t happen and nor did I visit my beloved Himalayas. The craving of course was there but the opportunity didn’t present itself.

Since getting the Ciaz in September last year I had been itching to drive it to the mountains however having undergone a c-sec and with a young baby to handle I had to sit still and not dash off much as I wanted to.

Then the daughter’s school vacation started and I had the perfect excuse, ‘the kid needed a break’ ;). A hiccup in the form of a gall bladder operation was taken care off and then we were  off to meet my beloved Himalayas.

Getting up at pre-dawn and heading out of a sleeping city has a charm not to be missed. A quick halt at a McDonalds for some hot pancakes with maple syrup and coffee and then we were off again towards the hills.

Some agonizingly slow hours were spend on the Kashipur road which was under construction and after that the road was smooth again and we whizzed off to meet the hills. Crossed Kathgodam and I was on the familiar snaking route to Bhimtal where we stopped for lunch and some stretching of limbs. Then we were off again towards Almora and then on the isolated stretch towards our final destination Binsar. The roads keep getting narrower and lonely as the traffic drops dramatically post Almora.

Climbing steadily up amongst the pines and fir and spotting a rhododendron here and there has its own charm. I could almost feel the city, its tensions and stress falling away as we moved closer to the pristine environs of Binsar.

My Jethu (dad’s elder brother) was a great lover of vehicles and car trips. With him we had done many a road trip across India which only helped fuel my love of India and its many moods best witnessed on the road. I had always hoped to relive those days of travelling with extended family, incessant chatter and munching on fruits from roadside stalls and orchards. Calling for sudden halts when something caught our eye and even bathing at a mountain spring.

Being able to stop and show Aarini various things from pine cones to cacti to wild animals to streams on the road felt very wonderful. And I realized yet again why they say we relive our lives through our kids. I am hoping we have been able to transfer our travel bug to our daughter too and she will grow up to have many adventures of her own.

What did we do in Binsar?

Blissfully nothing. We lazed, played games and walked down mountain paths. That's about it. We also did trek up to zero point from where a 360 degree view of the snow capped peaks is to be seen. However the day we went the sky was overcast and it started raining hard so while we had the pleasure of bathing with the fir, we couldn't see the peaks.

A word on the car: it was a pretty smooth drive and I didn’t feel a drag or stress on the most uphill of points.